Twenty Two Years

Podcast Transcription

Dave: Well, Melina just licked my face right after that, so I don't know. You realize, you realize they are recording all of this?

Narrator: Welcome to Flipping Off, a purpose-driven podcast about flipping houses and making a difference.

Dave: Hey. Dave Boswell here with my wife Melina Boswell, founders of New Wealth Advisors Club. And we're sitting here today...we've got a full studio. This... Doing something totally different, you know, recently we've had, you know, our waiter-to-warrior over here, Myke Van Ness, who is now our full-time investor, number one wholesaler inside of our club. We've had him on here, and he's in the studio today, along with John and Selene, we recently had here. We talked about their amazing story from being immigrants, to working tons of jobs, to now being able to quit, and be full-time. And when we got done with that conversation with John and Selene recently, we realized quite the ripple effect that's taken place, and the ripple effect when I talk about, like you know, Myke being here for several years now, and then John and Selene being here for the last few years, and then now we've got Christian Rios who, my goodness, Christian now, a part of their group as well, and Christian's in the house today. And so say, "Hi, everyone."

Christian: Hello, hello.

John: Good morning, Dave.

Selene: Hi.

Myke: Myke Van Ness.

Melina: In the house.

Myke: Something like that.

Dave: We almost have to take roll, the room is so packed in here, but I wanna take a little bit of time. And Christian, I mean Christian is sitting here at the ripe old age of...how old?

Christian: Twenty two.

Dave: Twenty two years old. And here he is as a, it's so crazy to say, a full-time real estate investor. I mean remarkable, 22 years old. So we met Christian, how long ago? You met him first, honey.

Melina: Yeah. When Christian first came to the introduction, he wanted to come to our initial training. And he was 17-years-old. And you hadn't...had you graduated from high school, yet?

Christian: No.

Melina: No, you hadn't. You were getting ready to graduate from high school. And he said, he said, "I really wanna come and I wanna do VIP." And I said, "Yeah," and I said, "Okay. Well, you can't sign a contract legally, so you're gonna have to bring your mom or a legal guardian at least." And so he did. He went back and... Did your mom come with you to the first intro? I can't remember if she did, or did you bring her back?

Christian: I brought her back to the second one.

Melina: Yeah. That's right. You brought back to the second one, and so.

Dave: So you dragged her back and said, "Mom, you gotta go check this out."

Christian: Yup.

Dave: Wow. At 17 years old, you're in high school. What on earth had you looking for a real estate investment club?

Christian: You know, at that time, that was when the market really wasn't in a good shape, and I saw what was happening in the housing market, how it affected my parents. And I wanted to be in the position where... I mean I was educated in real estate, and I knew what to do in situations like that, so I actually just started reading a lot of books in high school and I started educating myself. And it got to a point where I knew I wanted to go into real estate and, you know, be a real estate investor full-time. I didn't wanna go the traditional path of where everyone else was going and, you know, going to school and getting a degree and then getting a job. I wanted to be more in control for myself, and my time, and my family.

Dave: Dude, you're making us all feel bad right now. I feel really bad about myself because at 17, I wasn't thinking that. I was definitely thinking about the job, and surviving, and what I was gonna do to eat, and here you are thinking about, "I don't wanna do that." So let me back up. You said it affected your...you saw the housing market affect your parents. Tell us a little bit more about that. What does it... What did that mean to you? How did that affect you when you're 17 and in high school?

Christian: My parents, my parents have always made good money and I think it's a different mindset from just making good money to being, like, financially literate, to knowing what's going on in the market. So it affected the whole economy. But I wanted to know, like, how I could be in the real estate industry, and benefit from that also. So I saw my parents... I mean the house was worth, you know...they bought it for, like, $600,000 and from a few months later, it's worth, you know, $300,000. So I saw both my parents stressing out about the bills, and the finances, what they're gonna do, and I wanted to never really be in that position.

Dave: Wow. What great insight, and from such a struggle. And I can remember you coming in and 17, and I'm looking at Melina going, "Seventeen, what are we gonna do with a 17-year old in the club? Like, what are we gonna do?" And then, you know, one of the things we focused on is we've gotta find leads, right? So I'm like, "Well, we can teach him to find leads," but it's got some inherent challenges, you know, some...those inherent challenges, one of them being just your age. I mean, now you look older. Yeah.

Christian: Somewhat.

Dave: Somewhat. But at the time, you know, he's...you know, you're kinda going through that change in life, and not to put you on the spot but, you know, I remember him saying, "Man, I got to get rid of this acne", you know.

Christian: Yeah.

Dave: And a very real challenge, like, I mean how do you talk to a homeowner? How do you tell somebody, "Yeah, I've got a group of people behind me that can help you, and, you know, I'm struggling with acne. And by the way, I'm in high school?" So there were some real, real challenges that you've been able to overcome. And so, kind of egg in my face, if you will, because I at the same time I was thinking, "Not sure what we're gonna do with this kid." And so here you are now.

Melina: I believed in you.

Dave: My wife believes in everyone, always. She's...

Melina: Not really. It's not necessarily true. Not everyone, always.

Dave: Most, always. So nonetheless, so you came in, you got involved, and you'd been reading books and so forth but, like, tell us about, you know, you first come to introduction, you first start getting involved in some of our training. Like, you know, kinda like we had talked with, you know, John and Selene recently, and one of their struggles that they said was, "We know nothing," right? "I mean we know nothing. We don't understand the terminology, where this is..." You know, for Selene, it was even her second language, you know, hearing English and so forth. And so what was that like for you? I mean, I can't picture myself in high school, coming and checking us out. What was that like for you?

Christian: It was the same, same exact thing. It's learning a completely new...completely new business and being around, you know, everyone... I was the youngest. I'm still the youngest one in the office, but it's pretty cool, but it was... It's like learning a completely new language.

Dave: Right. So going through that curve and so forth, you kind of gravitated toward John and Selene and toward Myke. And how did you guys all kinda....like, what did that look like? I mean, maybe I can hear from John, or maybe from Myke specifically. Like, Myke, I mean, you're successful. You're, I mean, totally kicking ass at this business, and you've got deal after deal, after deal, after deal coming in. You got now... I think Christian's probably 18 about that time, and he comes to you and says what?

Melina: Yeah. And Myke was the ripe old age of, like, 25.

Myke: Yeah. Well, you know, honestly, I have a lot of partners obviously that I work with, lots of students, different people. You know, sometimes you do a few deals together, sometimes you do many more than that. And I've just come to the realization that, you know, even myself, I can only do so much. And there is a ceiling, you know, I can only help so many people, do so many deals at a time without, you know, absolutely killing myself. So what I saw in both John and Selene and Christian is that they're doers. They put feet to their words. They're getting out there and doing things. And I'm always a proponent, like Melina, of giving people a shot and, you know, making...you know, giving them an opportunity. Saying, "Hey, you know, show me what you can do. Let's get out there. Let's make something happen." But, you know, these guys, I saw a lot of action. I saw them, you know, constantly out there striving. They didn't quit, they didn't give up. I mean, gosh, John and Selene, I mean, I don't remember how many deals you guys had that, you know, things happened too, right? You know, it's real estate, so. But you didn't give up. And that was the key is you guys, you know, stayed this business and you were consistent.

And people...and someone even asked me the other day, you know, like what's the secret sauce of this business? Like, how are you successful? You know, how are these guys successful? Well, they didn't quit, and they show, and they show up. They show up, they didn't quit, and they're constantly out there, you know, looking to help other people and serve homeowners, you know. So I saw that I'm, like, awesome, you know. I'm looking to, obviously, expand my business. I want to help more people. There's lots of people I wanna work with, they wanna work with me.

So what's the best way that we can leverage our efforts? Well, it's combining our skill sets together, you know, helping John and Selene get out of their jobs, so they can do this full-time, you know, getting Christian on board and situated as well so he's here full-time with us as well. So that way, now we can exponentially serve more people, serve more homeowners, help more students close their first deal, you know, and really develop, you know, the idea of really flipping houses and living better. And that's the whole idea that, you know, of our synergy and everything we put together here. And, you know, it's been growing, and now I'm able to, you know, kind of give tasks off to these guys, and different things in the business, and they're kind handling, you know, this aspect and I'm in this aspect. And it's becoming a very well-oiled machine. And it's happening at the right time, I believe.

Dave: Wow.

Myke: You know, especially with everything that's happening with the organization, and all the explosion I'm seeing. So I'm super excited, and you know, I can't wait to see, like, you know, what's coming here in the next, you know, six months to a year.

Dave: Wow. So, well, that's really cool. The other flip side of this, we haven't even touched on this, but I mean Christian's 22 years old and you're with your high school sweetheart.

Christian: Yes.

Dave: You and Dani met in...

Christian: Junior year of high school. Yeah, 2009.

Dave: Junior year of high school, 2009. Aw, look at that. Aw. Here we are celebrating 20years. So you have since got married.

Christian: Mm-hmm.

Dave: Yeah. Even had a...what did you call that, a destination wedding?

Christian: Yeah. We got married in Cabo.

Dave: In Cabo, right? Who does that? Like, wow. So you got married, you have...

Christian: A two-year-old son.

Dave: A two-year-old son, which, Liam is this...

Christian: Mm-hmm. And that's when I really started working.

Dave: I was just going to say so. So some of that, I know there is a flip. Like in, from when I met you, 17, 18, 19, it wasn't that you weren't working. I think you were going through your...what a normal teenager might be doing, right? Then you're blessed with Liam, is on his way, right? And things kind of changed, right? And I remember seeing you get a lot more focused and a lot more, like, "Okay, like, life's about to get real, you know, it's about to get real up in here and that, you know, I've got a family now. I've got a family." And you have a daughter on the way. Yeah? And when is she due?

Christian: October.

Dave: October. What's her name?

Christian: Aria.

Dave: Aria. So on her way in October.

Melina: #gameofthrones.

Dave: So, Aria's on her way, and not too long ago we were at a housewarming party. And it was your house, that you bought, and you closed, and it's in your name, and you moved your family at 22 years old, your high school sweetheart, your 2-year-old son with your very pregnant wife into a gorgeous house.

Selene: A gorgeous house.

Melina: Yes.

Dave: I mean, it's a really great house. So how'd you...how'd you find that house?

Christian: It was actually a club member.

Dave: No way.

Christian: It was an off market property and for sale by owner. We were actually evaluating it, and seeing if it could be a flip. But it was too slim. You know, the property was beautiful. It doesn't need any repairs, no work was needed. So we found a way how to provide a solution to the homeowner and the solution was just for, you know, for me to buy it off-market. No realtor fees and so forth.

Dave: Wow. That's pretty awesome. So the homeowner was...the house was on your radar. Was it... Were they in default? What was happening with... How'd you...

Christian: It wasn't in default. They...he was a military guy, he was a marine, and he was actually getting deployed to Guam. So he had kind of a...he had an urgent...urgency to sell the property very, very quickly.

Dave: Wow. Awesome. So you were able to pick that up and you were sharing with me, now I'm telling it, but you had $40,000, $50,000 in equity or something?

Christian: Yeah, right off the bat.

Dave: Wow. I mean, that's just remarkable. Anybody else sitting around the table, looking at him...anyone else wanna strangle him right now?

Myke: Yeah. No, I mean, the house is absolutely beautiful. It's in a great neighbourhood. I mean, you guys, like, have a lake that's nearby. It's pretty fantastic. It even comes with a bunch of utensils, too. It's crazy.

Dave: It did come with a bunch of utensils. We have, you know, we have some fun around here at times, and so with the housewarming gifts that we brought him were, I think 70 plastic forks, spoons, and knives. And while we were there for the housewarming party, we hid them all over his house. And so he'll be finding them for years.

Christian: I'm still finding them.

Dave: I know there's several and then...

Melina: Yeah. There's some you don't even...you don't even know yet. You won't see them until winter probably.

Christian: Oh, my gosh.

Dave: They're literally everywhere. We have a great time around here. So what's, you know, tell us a little bit about, like, what do you guys do to work? I mean, there's such diversity here, right? You know, you got from the waiter dropped out of college to, I mean, Christian had a whopping, what would you say, two months you worked at Subway?

Christian: Yeah.

Dave: He worked at a Subway for two months and I absolutely hated it. You worked door to door sales for an alarm company at one point. You know, that's actually how you paid to get to the club, you said.

Christian: Right.

Dave: Yeah. So you're doing that. And then once you joined the club, you had a small... What were you doing for some sort of broker? I forget who it was.

Christian: Yeah, I was working on the side. I was working for a real estate broker, more so on the retail side of the business, and that's when I was, like, "Oh, my gosh, I hate...I kinda hate that side of the business." I was doing open houses. I was doing a lot of admin work. And the broker, he was actually somewhat of an investor, too. He was flipping some properties and I always...I mentioned to him, "Hey, I'm way more interested in getting involved on the flipping aspect of it. So he had been... This was when the market was a little different, but I was, like, the person on the MLS, like, day in and day out, I was shooting over a bunch of offers, and I actually got him quite a bit of properties, and when I did, I was like, "Oh, man," like, "I could do this myself," rather than getting, you know, 10 bucks an hour plus a little commission on the side, I wanna do this full-time because at that point of, you know, being 19 years old, I still needed that confidence, you know, and I was able to get some real estate experience, and build a little confidence up, and I think that's why we worked so good as a group now where we all can bring different traits and qualities to the table.

Dave: Yeah. I got it. And when... I mean just recently, it's pretty interesting, we had a student. I don't know how long ago Brett was...Brett came but Brett is...I don't know. What does Brett do?

Melina: He's a PA, a physician's...yeah.

Dave: So he's a PA, a physician's assistant. He comes and joins the club and he's at a totally different space in his life, you know. He's, you know, probably in his 50s, I'm guessing, maybe late 40s, early 50s. Sorry, Brett, if I got that wrong. But somewhere in that ballpark and... But I just remember sitting with Brett and Brett saying, "You know, my whole goal in life is I just I need to buy and hold some properties, I need some tax write-offs, and I really am not...you know, I don't have the time to be doing a lot of flipping and back and forth, but I wanna be able to buy and hold." And Christian called up and said, "Hey, Brett called me." Right? Think about that. "Brett called me." So the physician's assistant who just joins our club, who's just getting his feet wet, doesn't know anything either, is now calling Christian to say, "Hey, I have this homeowner who's in distress. They need some help." And Christian reached out to Melina, and they reached out to me and said, "Hey, can we take a look at this property?"

Really a long story short, but we put... This guy was just looking for...to start over, you know, the homeowner is just looking to start over and, "Help. You know, I need to move out. I'm going through a horrible divorce, and I don't want anything, but just some moving costs." And I remember sitting in the driveway and I'm sitting there with Christian, I'm sitting there with Brett. We just walked the house, going through it, I'm taking him through all the repairs and all the different things that are happening in here and going, "You know, there's not a ton of room in this deal to be able to fix and flip it." But Brett lives two minutes away from here, and Brett says, "I want to buy and hold." I said, "Awesome. Well, why don't we do this?" Brett ends up...Christian takes the house and wholesales it to Brett and we end up with what, $7000...you made 7500 bucks on that?

Christian: Mm-hmm.

Dave: So $15,000 wholesale fee. Christian gets a check for 7500 bucks. Take it home, mama's happy, right? We've got a new nursery to put together. So 7500 bucks. Brett gets the buy and hold that he wants, and we're not even mentioning on there that this is a totally creative financing deal on that. We kept the mortgage in place, caught up the arrears for the homeowner. The homeowner was totally fine with Brett keeping the mortgage in place and he's got, jeez, $60 grand, $50 grand, $60 grand?

Christian: Right, yeah, in equity.

Dave: In equity in that place. And then worked with...is working with a path of life and putting in, that's a totally different conversation, but putting in, taking people from a homeless shelter and being able to provide housing for them. I mean such a win-win situation. And to think about Brett calling Christian, right? Brett didn't call...

Dave: Right? I mean, Christian's able to help... And that's kind of what we do inside the club, right? We've got to be able to duplicate our efforts. We've got to be able to create leverage. And if you are really paying attention, from Myke and John and Selene and Christian all being here, they're really leveraging each other, right? Because as Myke mentioned, there's a ceiling at where you get, "Hey, I can only do so many properties. I can only be in so many places at once. But the more I grow a team and have more and more people being able to, you know, do different aspects of the deals, that helps us close more deals. And the more deals we close, even though, you know, that's partnerships and joint ventures and different things that are happening, everybody makes something versus I can only make so much."

And so Christian was coaching Brett through that because he's been coached by John and Selene, and by Myke and Melina and myself. And that's really just that ripple effect. I mean, I don't know if you guys are... I know sometimes we forget. I think we get busy and we don't stop and think, and kinda like John and Selene were talking, you know, recently and we just stopped... We don't just stop and really think about where we've come from, and what's really happening and the ripple effect. I know you guys have several other partners amongst your group and several other brand new students that are that are bringing new deals and, you know, I'm just curious, what do your...what's your mom and dad say to you now? Like five years later, Christian, from this crazy kid who comes home and says, "Mom, I need you to come sign a contract so I can go to this club." What are they saying to you today?

Christian: I know they're just super proud. They tell me all the time how proud they are of myself. And I think they always believed in me, which was huge. I had...my family is such a good...I had such a good foundation with them. And throughout, you know, my life, they've always instilled a, like, you can do it mentality, and I think that's why I've been able to, you know, succeed thus far.

Dave: Yeah I...it was pretty touching, I got to spend some time with your dad at your housewarming party. But we'll just leave it at that. But he was very, very, very choked up and just emotional and just thankful over and over and over, and he had mention, you know, he didn't have that same opportunity that you have, and that you've really taken in and run with it. So from our perspective, I, we couldn't be more proud. And we could say we have kids older than you so, you know, you are kind of, like, one of the kids. If you will get a fully...a very mature man who is providing for his family and I just... My hat's off to you, man. My hat's off to you. I'm very proud of you for...from coming and sitting in the corner, right? In the back row, in the corner, you know, to here you are going, "Okay, I'm ready to step up and take my business to the next level." What's that like for... I'd like to hear from the Slaters over here, John and Selene. Like, what's that like for you just... I mean, what do you think of when you...

John: It's fun. I mean, it is fantastic. You know, we were given an opportunity to work with Myke. We were given an opportunity to be coached and mentored, you know, by one of the best in the business and, you know, Christian, crikey, is nearly half our age, so he's got twice as much energy as we do and he's... You know, if you want to find something, Christian's gonna go solve it. Christian's gonna put the... You know, I don't know where he finds the time of day. You know, he's texting us at 6:30, 6:45 in the morning because Liam's come and woke him up that early, and he's already starting work at that time so, you know, for me having a partner with that level of commitment and that level of attitude. And he is as old as mine and Selene's son and daughter, you know, 22 years old and, you know, so we know what it's like to be seen a, I don't wanna say a kid, but seen a kid of that age. But Christian is not. Christian's a man. He's out there, he's built his goals and he's gonna achieve them. And I'm happy to be by his side and along for the ride with him because he's gonna go places that some people only dream of going. Well, I get to see that with him. So for me, that's awesome. And I know for Selene, she gets to act as mom a little bit as well with Christian so, you know, and get to slap him around when she needs to and get him back on track so...

Selene: No. No.

Dave: You don't smack. You don't hit him that hard.

Selene: No. Yeah. I just hug him as a mom and never smother him or anything.

Dave: That's pretty awesome. You know, I see you all the time, Christian, posting up on Facebook. I sometimes wonder, like, are you at work or at Disneyland? Or do you just work from Disneyland?

Christian: Yeah, I...yeah, absolutely.

Melina: He does. He does. We've been with him, right?

Dave: This guy is... You know, they're constantly, like, "Let's go to Disneyland. Let's go to Disneyland." And Disneyland for me is not the happiest place on earth, by the way, so. But they...you really get to enjoy that, and obviously what a cool experience. So you're not stuck at Subway, you're not stuck door to door sales, not stuck trying...

Christian: Behind a desk.

Dave: Behind a desk, and you get to choose what you do every single day.

Melina: I was just thinking that, you know, kind of my, always my, you know, the word that I feel like I was given when we first opened up the office is that the office would be a sanctuary and would be a safe place for people, and that has morphed into a sanctuary for, like, all the misfits. I actually really wanna do a Christmas party of the misfits. I had this idea... Because we are. We're all, like, such misfits, and it is the safe place for the misfits because when you look at, like, the three of you, or the four of you, you know, like there isn't any good reason on god's great earth that you would all be together, right? Or let alone be in partnership together, like living life together, living the lifestyle that you are, yet these relationships are so, so authentic and so real. They're life-changing kinds of relationships.

And for me, that's a...it is surreal because it is a dream come true. It is the idea of sanctuary being, like I said, a safe place for anyone and everyone, no matter where you come from, whether you come from another country, whether you come from high school, whether you come from, you know, like Myke, the school of hard knocks, you know, having like all odds against you. Like every one of you had odds against you. I keep on kind of going back to that idea, but I think that's where all the power is, is that statistically speaking, you guys should probably have never been together. You should have never met, let alone be in business, living life together, being...you know, sharing your family lives together in such a powerful way. And to me, that is like...that is the most amazing thing about and NWAC, I think.

Dave: Yeah, I think it's awesome. I mean, we just couldn't take...we couldn't dream of it in any other way. You know, you would never meet all the people that we meet and have all the relationships that we have. You know, it's really this... We say it all the time, right? We want like-minded people to come together with a common language, right? So we all got on the same page with a common language, and then we drive toward common goals in our own respects, but we help each other to be able to get there. And in this day and age, that's so rare that, you know, we get to celebrate successes. I mean, we really celebrate. Like I, I just remember, you know, the last check you guys, John and Selene, got, and Selene didn't know how much money it was, and Myke kept it a secret, and John kept it a secret, and then we got to surprise Selene with a check, and then watching her go, "I didn't know it was gonna be this much," you know? And I think she said something right after that, like, "Does this mean I get to buy this and this and this and this?"

John: Disney passes.

Selene: Yeah, just Disney passes.

Dave: Just Disney passes. They're only like, what, $10,000 a piece or something now? I think a hotdog is $84. So...

Selene: Oh, my gosh. Without ketchup.

Dave: Without ketchup. Yeah. That's another six bucks for ketchup. So no, I think it's pretty awesome that we have such a diverse group, and yet we're able to come together. I mean, you guys meet. I see you all the time here. You all have an office, right, at the club? And you guys... I mean, how often do you guys... I see you together all time. Is it... Do you guys... How do you work together? I mean, give us maybe a little bit of insight into that. How... Like, do you have a regular schedule? Do you... What does that look like?

Christian: Well, our schedules are...every day is different because some days we're out, you know, walking properties. Some days, we do have a meeting, but we typically try to get together at least once a week, you know, face to face. I know last week, it was really cool, we were just setting...starting to set our goals as a team for 2017. And it's gonna be really cool to see how...how that evolves. So about once a week.

Myke: Yeah. And what's cool for me is that, like, the possibilities of those goals. Like, the belief is there in those guys, you know, and they know, "Hey, this is completely doable." I mean, we have some pretty cool goals, some pretty big numbers, you know like, big, big numbers, but it's completely possible, and we know it's possible because of the momentum we've created in this business. And I think, you know, one of the key things, you know, for everybody listening, you really want to pull from this, you know, discussion we're having is, is honestly is the belief. You know, I know there's people out there that, you know, like Christian, they have, you know, fantastic families that believe in them. You know, they have a ton of support. But then there's also the other side of the coin, there's people that have no support, or their families are completely against them where they're like, "You're doing real estate? You're doing that? You're crazy. That's never going to work." And I know that outside talk can really affect people's, you know, decisions and progress in this business and beliefs in themselves.

And I know for me, without the club and the community that we have here, it would have been really difficult because that's what I was searching for, you know? I was going to other seminars and reading all this other stuff, but there was...there wasn't a group, a family of people that had a belief in myself, so that I could believe that I can actually do this. And I think that's what makes us so different from everybody else is that our community, everybody's there for you, everybody's there to help you. So whether you come from a great family, or you don't have a family, or you're somewhere in between, like, you can create your own family, like you guys have taught me. Here at the club, we get to choose our family. You know, I think that's fantastic, and I think that's an awesome opportunity, you know.

And I see so much more stickability when people really get involved and they latch onto that because that's the key to success in any business. I mean, I always tell people, you know, you are the sum of the five closest people you hang out with. So if your friends are all broken naysayers, you probably need some new friends, you know? But it's like if you wanna be a real estate investor, then get around other real estate investors. Get around people that are successful, show up, be present, be around it. Like that's how people find success in life. In any industry, not just real estate, whatever you want to do in life, be around the people that are, you know, an emulation of where you wanna be, you know, or doing the things you wanna do, they have the things you wanna have, they believe in the things you, you know, that you believe in as well. So I think, you know, that's a big and it's something really powerful that we have in the club and super special, I don't...I haven't really seen that anywhere else.

And you know, that's part of the magic in this business. And like, yeah, Melina said, we're against the odds, but we also have, you know, a fantastic organization and support that really stems from you guys. You know, you and Melina's belief in everybody else because, yeah, I mean, I totally and completely, 100% aware that you guys could just be at home and close real estate all day long and never leave your house, and just be by the pool with piña coladas.

John: Sounds actually pretty good, right about, right?

Dave: I think we're gonna leave here. We're going to the pool and have some piña coladas. So I appreciate you saying that Myke, and I...you know, it is something that...I think this is a really good time for us to really stop and, you know, because doing these podcasts, you know, we had this idea, like, "Oh, we want to do these podcasts." We were like, "Okay so why do we want to do these?" You know, like, for me it was really a matter of, you know, this takes time and effort and money and, you know, what's the value in doing this podcast?" And I think, you know, as, you know, we release these and send them out to the public and the feedback that we get from people, just being able to hear and relate on a more intimate level, right? Because, you know, the club being, you know, hundreds of people coming and coming together into the meeting, and we have trainings every month, and we're getting together doing all these different things. I mean, I know we're going out to an Angels game together, and they'll be several hundred of us there at an Angels game, that's all great. And we can have, you know, kind, you know, surface the sort of conversations, you know? But this helps us be just a little bit more intimate and get to know people on a little bit more intimate level. And I think that, what Myke just said, that helps the stickability for people. That helps that...

You know, Melina and I had bad days, too, right? We have days where, you know, "Gosh, I'm tired," or, you know, "We just lost a deal," you know, or, "Hey, that fell apart at the last minute. Gosh, that really stinks." But this is what helps keeping...keep us going, "Hey, that's okay." We pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off and move on to the next one. And we all have those ups and downs. I mean, we've seen it. You know, Myke may be going through a valley and we're on a mountaintop so we can pick him up. We may be going through a valley, and then Myke can pick us up, you know? And vice versa and so forth. And I think that's something that you can't put a price tag on. It's really hard to articulate, right? I mean, people ask us all the time, "What makes your club so different?" I just can't explain it to you. You gotta come experience it, you know?

Melina: True. It's difficult to articulate.

Dave: Yeah. It's next to impossible to really articulate. And here you are, you know, all of you have years of experience inside, you know, watching the club grow and manifest to what it is today and that, you know... Gosh, we've got...we've got 17 offices. I mean, who would've thought? You know, we went from a little shoe box with barely enough room to walk in, to 5,000 to 10,000 square feet, and now we're doing podcasts and being able to return to reach so many people, to me it's just...it's encouraging, and it's motivating, it's exciting. And, you know, I don't get inspired by real estate. I don't know if you guys have heard me say this before, but I'm not inspired by real estate. Like real estate doesn't get me out of bed. The opportunity that the real estate affords us, financially speaking, is what gets me out of bed, right? Because I want the finance, so just like anyone else, I want the finances to support the lifestyle and the things that I want to do, and provide for the charities that we wanna provide for and so forth. But I don't get inspired by real estate, and what I actually inspired by is all of your guys' stickability because you guys are definitely an inspiration to Melina and I, for sure, so...

Melina: I agree. Ditto.

Christian: Ditto.

Melina: I can't believe we agreed.

Dave: Are you kidding? Don't we always agree?

Melina: Always.

Dave: Yes. Always. And if not, you...

Melina: Submit.

Dave: Eventually. Anyways, with that, I just wanna say thank you guys for coming out and spending the morning with us.

Melina: Yeah.

Dave: And we look forward to seeing you around the club and...

Melina: Yeah. Before...I am sorry, I just have one quick question I'd like to ask...actually ask.

Dave: Really?

Melina: I do. I know.

Dave: Oh.

Melina: It's really funny. Just a quick question, and maybe just in like a couple of words.

Dave: Sure.

Melina: If you were... Like, for people that are listening to us right now, and you wanted to give, like, one piece of wisdom, John, what would it be? If you can think of one piece of wisdom. I know I'm putting you on the spot, but I'd really like to hear what you think.

John: Wow. Sticking with it.

Melina: Yeah. Don't give up.

John: Don't give up. Sticking with it. Finding...finding the right group of people to be with, whether that's, you know, on a big scale of NWAC as a group, to smaller groups, you know? We've built a fantastic team based on very different people, you know, and we each bring something very special to us. So stick with it and surround yourself with the right people that's going to help you grow, and bring something different to your business as well.

Melina: Very good. Christian, if you had something to say, what would you say?

Christian: I would say just be obsessed with perfecting your craft. I think what... One of my favorite speakers is Jim Rohn and he says, "Work harder on yourself than you do on your job or your business." And that's really what I've been trying to do for the last couple of years. I know that... I wouldn't, being young, being 22, I wouldn't be able to be where I'm at right now without the mentorship of Myke, Melina, Dave, John, and Selene. Most people my age aren't close to where I'm at. Like, when I was ready to get, you know, my own corporation, Dave was there and walking me through it, and most 22-year-olds know nothing about that. So I would say just be obsessed with knowledge and get around the right people and, you know, be committed.

Dave: Wow. That's awesome. One thing I would say is you have been trying to do that. You used the words and you said, "I'm trying to do that." You're doing it. You're doing it.

Melina: Totally.

Dave: So, you know? How about you, Myke?

Myke: Well, this business, it's a marathon, it's not a race. People need to understand that. I mean, contrary to, you know, our economy or, you know, social media, TV shows out there, you know, this is not a get rich quick. This is not an overnight success. You can become extremely wealthy in this business, but it's gonna take time, and anything worthwhile needs to take time, otherwise it's never gonna last. You know? So understand that, you know, everybody's journey is different. Be okay with your journey. And just, you know, be okay with the process, but it's gonna happen as long as you stay consistent.

Dave: Yeah. That's great. Well, that is definitely an explanation point to this whole thing because I want people to really get that each one of you have years of perfecting your craft. As Christian just quoted from Jim Rohn, right? And we appreciate that. And with that, we're going to...

Melina: Flip out. Flipping off.

Dave: Flipping something.

Melina: Flip out.

Dave: It's time to flip out of here and get some lunch. We might as well.

Melina: Yeah.

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